Quotes are all around us. They can span from comical to inspirational,
comforting to pointless… in today’s day and age we are
surrounded by other people’s words. This leads me to my question
for the day:

What are some of your favorite quotes?

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The
troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see
things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect
for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or
vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because
they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may
see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are
crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who
do.” - Rob Siltanen

I personally think this quote is pretty awesome, especially in modern
times when there are so many pressures to be and act a certain way. Let
your freak flag fly my friends :)

1. "I'll do what I want!" from my friend Jason, who I knew
WAY back in high school. He was free-spirited and daring and never let
anyone tell him what he could or could not do.

"Follow your bliss." from my old Psych professor Dr. James
Morley from Ramapo College of New Jersey ( my undergrad). Its so true.
Just do what makes you happy. Don't worry about what others think, just
follow your heart.

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not
innovating enough.”

I love this quote because I am always scared of failing, and I would
always be scared to take risk or do something because a feeling or
looking dumb. Whenever I look at this quote, I feel more encouraged to
just go out there and make it something happen. I can always gain from
experiences, even if I don't gain the exact results I wished for the
exact results I wished for. Failure will ultimately happen if I don't do
anything at all. I have a chance of being successful at something if I
at least try.

I've had a few favorite quotes throughout the years but one of my
favorites is a fairly simple one:

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
-Edgar Allan Poe

I've always thought it was comical, but looked at it with a slightly
different meaning than what was intended. I view the madness as passion,
when you're caught up in something you love and the rest of the world
can't relate to what you're doing and feeling. That's happiness, as
opposed to "long intervals of horrible [complacency]".

"You aren't going to save the world. You'd be lucky to save
yourself."
- Mr. Davis, a high school teacher of mine.

"The teacher's role is to take roll, occasionally get angry at you,
and then give you an arbitrary grade based on how much they like
you."
-Mr. Horvath, another teacher of mine.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death
that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to
pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the
inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be
nothing. Only I will remain."
- Frank Herbert, "Dune".

"In our final moments our true names are all discovered.
So let it fall.
Even if it turns out to be futile, at least we couldn't
ask for a sky so clear, or a day more beautiful.
They'll never find the wreckage, transcending all
human languages.
Just a promise and a final message:
The decent is all there ever is...
Fate is nothing but a nervous disease."
-Protest the Hero, "Skies"

“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds
one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that
negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well.
This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile
nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that
night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself
toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine
Sisyphus happy.”
- Albert Camus

"Not a whit, we defy augury. There is special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to
come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—the
readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is't
to leave betimes, let be."
-William Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

"Anywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live.
After all, you are alive, so you will always have the chance to be
happy."
-The End of Evangelion

"Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do
for your country." - John F. Kennedy

It is because it reminds me of how we as Americans used to trust and put
hope in our government and country. However nowadays people has mistrust
and are more selfish to do anything like fight, vote, stand protest,
etc. for this country. Mostly due to the people who we put or let them
put in offices for the government.

Abby, that quote is pretty awesome. I think it's really important to be
our genuine selves. Many of us claim to do it, or want to do it, but
it's actually kind of hard. One thing I tell myself is that when I am
truly free to be who I am unashamedly, it actually helps others to do
the same. And what is more beautiful than contagious freedom?!

My favorite quote speaks to this a little bit. It's by Marianne
Williamson and I can never get tired of it.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our
deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our
light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask
ourselves,‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,
fabulous?’Actually, who are you not to be?Your
playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel
insecure around you.We are all meant to shine, as children
do.It’s not just in some of us; it’s in
everyone.And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.As we are liberated
from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

A portion of this quote is quoted in the movie Coach Carter, and it's
also commonly mis-attributed to Nelson Mandela. I think a lot of people
have heard the first portion of it before.

For a while, I felt compelled to wrap my hair up in scarves (similarly
to the Orthodox Jewish tradition for married women). I felt like I was
more genuine, creative, modest, and true to myself when I did that. But
honestly, it was kind of weird. No one seems to do that in my group of
friends or peers. But you have no idea how many people came up to me to
ask me about it, compliment me on it, and it opened up great
conversations regarding authenticity.

This quote really gave me strength to do something that wasn't
conventional, because I knew that me "shrinking back" and
"playing small" didn't help anyone.

"When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are
challenged to change ourselves." -Viktor E. Frankl

To me this just kind of reminds me that even if the situation is
something that I can't control I don't have to be negative or upset
about it. I am able to control my actions and my mind and all I need to
fix the situation or make it better is to take control of what I CAN
control. This way I am in control of the outcome no matter the situation.

My most favorite quotes come from my personal idol, Frida Khalo. I
relate to her a lot as an artist and as someone who suffers from chronic
pain which she lived with her entire life after the trolley accident
that she was in. I find her quotes to be beautiful and give a deeper
look into her life.